Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

It's not necessary for you to change your business name unless it's totally crucial. You will have a whole lot of other changes to do when you do that, which includes changing your bank details.

Your legal entity can operate under many different names and you do not have to change anything. Or the name you prefer to use can simply be the name but yes you have to file a DBA (doing business as). Where I am, in New Jersey, the filing fee for each DBA is simply $35. I operate under my main business name however, I have certain projects that I want to market separately and I register these projects so the public appears that this project is not affiliated with the main name or maybe you want it to be a division of blankity blank. You will only have to give the paper work to your bank, stating that you also operate under XYZ name or name(s) so you can deposit checksa written out. So if your changing your name for marketing purposes, I would not change it or keep it as the parent and operate under a different name for whatever you are doing. /

If, on the other hand, you have another reason for changing the name, such as problems I cannot think of, then your best bet is to simply dissolve your company and start a new one. For AFEW HUNDRED BUCKS YOU CAN DO THAT AS WELL AS YOU ALREADY KNOW. Otherwise, DBA!!!!!! No reason to go through all of that trouble. The IRS just wants their money and if somehow you had bad press or something, there are companies, like myself that can help you with public relation dmagae control. If you are changing your name, simply because you know longer like it (I have grown tired of my own name after using it for years but I don't care too much) then DBA or make a subsidiary and operate that way. So you do not even require a lawyer unless you are:

a. dissolving and setting up a new company
or some other reason unless you lost your domain name or something in which case people usually do not care about the name any more. Well I tend to write too (occupational hazard).

Good luck! 
 

I have the same question with a twist!  My Sec of State & Tax Commission show my business name as one thing and the IRS issued my EIN as a different name...now my State Tax Commission (Oklahoma) won't reaffirm my sales tax permit because the IRS doesn't show the EXACT LLC name as they do.  Other than contacting the IRS, should I do anything else?  I have already contacted the OK Sec of State & OK Tax Commission and both say it's a problem I have to fix with the IRS.  Has anyone ever had this same issue and how likely am I to get it resolved in a timely manner (AKA: tax filing time)!